Layoffs threatened in Wis.

MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Tuesday evening that failing to pass a bill stripping union rights for Wisconsin public workers would have "dire consequences."

In a speech broadcast live statewide, Walker said that if lawmakers don't pass the bill, up to 1,500 state workers could be laid off by July with 6,000 more forced out of work over the next two years.

With their Senate colleagues still missing in action, Democrats in the state Assembly began introducing a barrage of 100 amendments Tuesday to try to stymie Walker's plan.

Both houses of the GOP-controlled Legislature convened shortly before noon amid noisy protests outside the state Capitol that began more than a week ago in a showdown that is being watched nervously by organized labor across the country.

The Senate was unable to take up the union measure because its 14 Democrats skipped town last week, denying the chamber a quorum. But Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald pledged that his chamber would approve the bill this week, despite the blizzard of Democratic amendments.

Turning up the pressure on the Democrats, Walker warned that state employees could start receiving layoff notices as early as next week if the bill isn't passed soon. The layoffs couldn't take effect immediately - existing union contracts could forestall them for weeks or months - and Walker wouldn't say which jobs he would go after first.

Walker said that his proposal isn't about attacking unions, it's about balancing Wisconsin's projected two-year, $3.6 billion budget shortfall.

While Wisconsin remained the main front in the national debate over union rights, similar battles were taking shape in other states. In Indiana, House Democrats walked out of the Statehouse on Tuesday, blocking a GOP-backed bill against mandatory union dues. Only three of the 40 Democratic members of the chamber were present, depriving it of a quorum.

A similar debate in Ohio drew thousands of union protesters Tuesday, prompting officials there to lock the doors to the Statehouse.

In Wisconsin, if lawmakers take no action on the union bill by the end of the week, the state will not be able to refinance debt that Walker had counted on for $165 million worth of savings under the legislation. The governor warned that not doing so would force even deeper cuts and possibly lead to the layoffs.

Republican leaders in both the Senate and Assembly said they had the votes to pass the bill.

Fitzgerald said the bill was a key part of the Republican agenda to cut government spending that won the GOP majorities in the Legislature in November.

"When you talk about a compromise, no. We're going to make a reform," he said.

Debate began in the Assembly with the Democrats introducing amendments that would do such things as restore public employees' right to strike and submit the bill to a referendum before it could take effect. Given the number of amendments Democrats were proposing, an actual vote on the measure may not happen until Wednesday or later.

"It's going to be a long day," Democratic Minority Leader Peter Barca said at the start of debate. "Tempers are going to flare."

Rep. Cory Mason, a former organizer for the American Federation of Teachers, said Wisconsin has enjoyed more than 50 years of labor peace between state and local public employees and their bosses after passing collective-bargaining rights in 1959.

"What the governor is proposing and what the majority is proposing today is to break that labor peace," he said.

The roar of protesters in the Capitol rotunda, many of whom were banging on drums and chanting through megaphones, could be heard while both the Senate and Assembly met.

The Wisconsin bill would force state and local public workers to contribute more toward their pensions and health care and would strip them of the right to negotiate benefits and working conditions. They would largely be limited to negotiating pay raises no greater than the inflation rate.